Belitung ( Belitung Malay: ''Belitong'', formerly Billiton) is an island on the east coast of

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

, Indonesia in the

Java Sea The Java Sea ( id, Laut Jawa, jv, Segara Jawa) is an extensive shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf, between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, Java to the south, Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east. Karimata Strait to its nort ...

. It covers , and had a population of 309,097 at the 2020 Census. Administratively, it forms two regencies (

Belitung Regency Belitung Regency is a regency (''kabupaten'') of Bangka Belitung Islands Province, Indonesia, with the town of Tanjung Pandan as the regency seat. It formerly covered the whole of Belitung island, but subsequently the eastern districts on the isla ...

and East Belitung Regency) within the province of Bangka-Belitung Islands. The island is known for its

pepper Pepper or peppers may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant ** Black pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ** Bell pepper ** Chili ...

and for its tin. It was in the possession of the United Kingdom from 1812 until Britain ceded control of the island to the Netherlands in the

Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, also known as the Treaty of London, was a treaty signed between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands in London on 17 March 1824. The treaty was to resolve disputes arising from the execution of the Anglo-D ...

. Its main town is

Tanjung Pandan Tanjungpandan (official writing style) (, Jawi: تنجوڠ ڤندن ), is the largest town on the island Belitung in the Indonesian province of Bangka-Belitung, Indonesia. Tanjungpandan is the capital of the Belitung Regency comprising one of the ...

. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has declared 17 tourist attractions in the Belitung Geopark as world geoparks.

Demography

The population was 262,357 at the 2010 Census and 309,097 at the 2020 Census. The population is centred in several small towns; the largest are

in the west and

Manggar Manggar () is a town in the Indonesian province of Bangka-Belitung, Indonesia which is a port on the east coast of Belitung Island, and is the seat of the East Belitung Regency. The town was founded as a tin mining town in the 19th century. Histo ...

in the east, which are the respective capitals of the two Regencies ( Belitung and Belitung Timur) into which the island is administratively divided. While ethnic Bangka

Malays Malays may refer to: * Malay race, a racial category encompassing peoples of Southeast Asia and sometimes the Pacific Islands ** Overseas Malays, people of Malay race ancestry living outside Malay archipelago home areas ** Cape Malays, a communit ...

people make up the largest percentage along with

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

people, Belitung has significant populations of Bugis, Sundanese, and Javanese people who formerly worked for the Dutch, mining tin. There is also a small population of Madurese who were settled there in the Suharto era transmigration.

Religion

Before the arrival of Dutch missionaries, the island's inhabitants and most of the Indonesian archipelago had already converted from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Animism to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

due to the work of Chinese Muslim traders. As a result,

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

churches were unable to gain considerable numbers of followers. Today, Belitung is a religiously diverse island.

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagre ...

is the most widely practised religion, with sizeable minorities of

Buddhists Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

, Christians and

Confucianists Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or a ...

Transportation

On Belitung island, the only airport is in Belitung Regency; that is, the H.A.S. Hanandjoeddin International Airport maintains a series of connecting flights to Pangkal Pinang Airport, as well as a plane to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. International flights via Singapore's Changi International Airport are through

Garuda Indonesia Garuda Indonesia is the flag carrier of Indonesia, headquartered at Soekarno–Hatta International Airport. A successor of KLM Interinsulair Bedrijf, it is a member of SkyTeam and the second-largest airline of Indonesia after Lion Air, operat ...

airlines. Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has four direct flights from Singapore. The Singapore-Tanjung Pandan direct flight operates four times weekly - departing at 5:20 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and 5:30 pm on Sundays. Belitung Island has four ports; three in Belitung Regency and one in East Belitung Regency, serving cargo ships and ferry ships. Online taxi services (such as Gojek and Grab) are available, as well as standard taxicabs, the taxi bandara (airport taxi) and commonly-hailed street taxis.

Geography

Belitung is a medium-sized island (at about ), also encompassing smaller adjacent islands, of which

Mendanau Island Mendanau is an island in the Bangka Belitung province of Indonesia. Located about 6 km off the west coast of Belitung and 20 km from the town of Tanjung Pandan, it is the fourth largest island in the province after Bangka, Belitung and Lepar wi ...

to the west is the largest. Belitung consists of moderately-rugged terrain, and several hills. The highest point is Mount Tajam, with a height of less than . The maritime boundaries of the province include

Bangka Strait Bangka Strait is the strait that separates the island of Sumatra from Bangka Island ( id, Pulau Bangka) in the Java Sea, Indonesia. The strait is about long, with a width varying from about to . See also * Japanese cruiser Ashigara * List of st ...

to the west, Karimata Strait to the east, Natuna Sea to the north, and the

to the south. The

Gaspar Strait The Gaspar Strait ( id, Selat Gaspar) is a strait separating the Indonesian islands Belitung ( en, Billiton, link=no) and Bangka. It connects the Java Sea with the South China Sea. Etymology The strait is named after a Spanish captain, who ...

runs north-south (between the islands of Bangka and Belitung), connecting the Java Sea to the Natuna Sea and, further north, the South China Sea. Its surrounding turquoise blue seas are moderately calm and shallow, making for great sailing, snorkeling and swimming. Belitung is popular for its abstract granite boulders and brilliant, white-sand beaches in

Tanjung Tinggi A tanjung is a cape, and it is an extremely common geographical name in the Malay world. It may refer to: * George Town, Penang in the Malay language * Tanjung, Tabalong, the capital city of Tabalong Regency, in South Kalimantan province of Indon ...

, Tanjung Kelayang, Tanjung Binga and

Lengkuas island ''Alpinia galanga'', a plant in the ginger family, bears a rhizome used largely as an herb in Unani medicine and as a spice in Arab cuisine and Southeast Asian cookery. It is one of four plants known as " galangal". Its common names include ...

Economy

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Eindstation kabelbaan droogoven en kolenbunker TMnr 10007249

Belitung is a source of tin, clay,

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

and silica sands. The Dutch mining company NV Billiton Maatschappij derives its name from the island's name. Billiton merged with BHP in 2001 to form BHP Billiton. The island is also a producer of

fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...

products,

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family ( Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the ...

, and

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...

. People work as farmers, fishermen and miners. The island is easily accessible with eight daily 1-hour flights from

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

and 2 daily flights, with duration of 30 minutes and 50 minutes each, from Pangkal Pinang. The white sand beaches and offshore islands are helping tourism to become a larger part of the economy.

Tourist destinations

The main tourist destinations are beaches and offshore islands/islets. The beaches are Tanjung Tinggi Beach and Tanjung Kelayang Beach, both of which have clear blue water, sand, and rocky beaches. The islands/islets ar
Batu Berlayar Island
which is mostly granite, Pasir Island, which is a

tidal island A tidal island is a piece of land that is connected to the mainland by a natural or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide. Because of the mystique surrounding tidal islands, many of them have been sites of ...

made of sand (= pasir in Indonesian language), Bird Islet ( Pulau Burong, which one can access from Tanjung Binga beach by walking at low tide,

Lengkuas Island ''Alpinia galanga'', a plant in the ginger family, bears a rhizome used largely as an herb in Unani medicine and as a spice in Arab cuisine and Southeast Asian cookery. It is one of four plants known as " galangal". Its common names include ...

, which is the home of a 129-year-old

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

and a good place for snorkeling, and Babi Island and Kelayang Islet.

References

External links

*
Tempat Wisata DI Belitung
* {{Authority control Landforms of the Bangka Belitung Islands Islands of Sumatra